


Live the Best You Can with What You Got

by messedupstargazer



Series: It's Okay To Be A Mess [1]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Peter, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Tony Stark, Sickfic, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Worried Tony Stark, dad tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 01:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11933487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/messedupstargazer/pseuds/messedupstargazer
Summary: “Mr.  Stark”   Tony barely heard the kid greet him before his heart was thundering in his chest as Peter's eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp, toppling over the edge of the roof.





	Live the Best You Can with What You Got

Tony had started to become getting used to seeing the kid on the news. Now with his supersuit back, Peter had launched back into being Spiderman. While Tony had been disappointed that the kid didn't want to join the Avengers, all in all, it had been a good decision. After all, Peter was just a kid, he needed to finish high school before he became a full time superhero. Still, there was no way that Tony was going to stop looking out for the kid. Someone needed to guide him, and while Happy had really taken a shine to the kid, bitter annoyance turned into gentle encouraging with fond exasperation, Tony still considered himself Peter's superhero guardian. And since Tony had replaced the tracker in the suit, he could check in whenever or wherever he wanted to. Also he made sure Peter's AI, who Peter had named Karen (which somehow felt right) was constantly in contact with Friday about Peter's vitals, stressors, and contacts. He didn't tell the kid that though, he didn't want the kid breaking in to the suit to remove that. Again. Those protocols were in there for a reason. As adult as the kid was, superpowers matured someone very quickly, he was still only fifteen. And he needed someone to be there in case he bit off more than he could chew. Tony already should've been there when Peter stopped the hijacking of Tony's plane so he couldn't let the kid down again. So he programmed Friday to alert him every time the kid was on the news. If it was too much for the kid, Karen would patch in Tony. But since Karen had yet to do that, Tony settled for just seeing the kid on the news. Tony still listened to every report Peter called in, just so he could be a little more involved in his life. He had meant it when he said he was trying to break the cycle and Howard never paid attention to Tony's day to day life, so he tried to make sure he listened to Peter's. He would be better than Howard was with Peter. The kid damn deserved it.

“Boss, Karen's on the line.” Friday chirped out one night in late December. The kid was on Christmas break and so had handled patrol later in the day because he could sleep in later.

“Everything okay, Karen?” Tony asked.

“Peter is very much in distress.” Karen said and within seconds Tony was out the door, suit building itself up as he ran.

“What's happened?” Tony demanded.

“While on patrol tonight, Peter apprehended some car thieves.” Karen replied. “There was a fight but Peter won fairly easily. They crashed into the East River trying to escape and Peter dove in after them. He was able to rescue the thieves but his heater was damaged in the fight. He already seems to be showing signs of hypothermia and is trying to calm himself from a panic attack at the moment.”

“Friday take me there now!” Tony barked, ice running through his veins.

“Already on it, boss.” Friday replied quickly, as he zipped through the sky.

“ETA Friday?” Tony asked.

“Twenty-five minutes.” Friday replied. 

Tony cursed under his breath. Getting the Avengers out of Manhattan had seemed like the easiest way of getting rid of the civilian casualties. Now it just made him too far away from Peter.

“Karen, how's he doing?” Tony asked, pulling up the kid's vitals.

“He is not calming down.” Karen replied, sounding worried. It seemed that Karen and Peter had grown quite attached to each other, which normally would've warmed Tony's heart. “I cannot understand the cause of the panic attack, only that he's taken the mask off. I can't talk to him.”

Tony cursed and poured more energy into the thrusters. The kid's heart rate ran right off the charts, his oxygen level had become dangerously close to passing out, and his tracker showed him on the edge of an abandoned warehouse in Queens. If he fell- no. Tony couldn't complete that thought. The kid was going to be okay. And he'd build the new heater to be invulnerable, even if meant having to beg T'Challa for vibranium. He'd make the suit better. He swore it.

When he landed on the edge of the roof, Peter didn't notice his arrival. His hands clawed at his neck, as of trying to get more air, he took large, quick gasps clearly hyperventilating, and tears streamed down his face. Luckily, he was facing toward the middle of the building instead of hanging off the edge.

“Help please somebody.” With three words Tony's heart shattered. What the hell had scared the kid so badly? This was trauma, Tony knew. Why didn't Karen tell him about this? She’s supposed to tell him about everything Peter went through that could be considered trauma.

“Peter?” Tony asked, his voice low to not scare the kid. He slowly reached down and picked up Peter's mask, unwilling to leave it here where anyone could use it against the kid. 

“Mr. Stark.” Tony barely heard the kid greet him before his heart was thundering in his chest as Peter's eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp, toppling over the edge of the roof.

Tony launched into action, catching the kid around the neck and trying to keep him from snapping his neck from the whiplash of the full stop Tony started. Once Peter was securely in his arms, he scanned him for injuries. Nothing came up, except the bruising from the car chase fight and the expected hypothermia. But he didn't want to take chances so instead of the long flight to the compound, longer now with a passenger, he brought Peter to one of the few safe houses the Avengers still owned. Before the move, they had used it to do some battlefield medicine. Ironically, it had been one of Steve's injuries that caused that apartment. Steve had gotten himself blown up and medical attention couldn't get through the battlefield that was Twenty-First Street. If Hulk hadn't grabbed Steve and carried him like a hurt baby bird to the Hellicarrier, he might not have made it. But now it just lay empty. So Tony carried Peter in, laying him down on the soft bed he had purchased for just such an occasion. 

Peter moaned softly as he came into contact with the silk sheets and satin pillowcases, seeming to come back into consciousness. His eyes fluttered open, but couldn't focus on Tony before they slid shut again.

“Boss you need to warm him up.” Friday said. “His core temperature is 91 degrees. He's in moderate hypothermia, he needs heated blankets and a warmed IV.”

Thankfully Tony, ever since he came back from Afghanistan, had programmed all his AIs with access to medical procedures and how to work with what he had around them. So after he got out of the suit, he set to work, doing exactly as Friday said. He covered Peter in blankets, setting the blankets to warm Peter up quickly but not overwhelm his system. Friday had suggested stripping him out of his wet suit but, honestly the thought made Tony feel like a pervert. Peter had said that he didn't wear other clothes under the suit when he took the suit from him. That was not a line he was willing to cross unless the kid was about to die.

Once Friday walked him through putting in the warmed IV, Tony allowed himself to breathe. Not that it did much good. The kid was still unconscious, and looked worse than Tony had ever seen him. He was pale, the edges of his lips were blue, and his breathing seemed to be exhausting him.

“Friday, is he going to be okay?” Tony asked, getting a glass of water for when the kid woke up.

“His symptoms might take some time to fade, but according to my scans, his healing factor had already kicked in.” Friday replied. “He'll be all right, Boss.”

“Make sure you tell Karen.” Tony replied.

“Karen has been listening in the whole time, Boss.” Friday said. “Shall I text May that Peter will not be home?”

“Yeah, tell her he fell asleep in the lab and Happy will bring him home later.” Tony said, grateful he made his AIs so smart. He didn't even think of May and how worried she'd be if Peter didn't make it home.

“May replied thank you for letting me know and have a fun night colon dash end parenthesis.” Friday said.

“That's a smiley face, Friday, look at it sideways.” Tony said, knowing the kid would get a kick out of this. If he were conscious. Shit.

“Friday, are you sure he's okay?” Tony asked. “He's not waking up.”

“Hypothermia does take time to fade, Boss, as his system can't get too hot too quickly.” Friday said soothingly. He didn't even know he built that voice into her. “According to my readings, he is getting better. Just slowly.”

Tony felt like a weight had settled in his stomach. This had been his fault. If he'd simply given Peter a better suit, if he'd been paying more attention to the kid, if he'd better prepared in the heater got damaged, if he'd tried harder to keep the kid alive. Tony clutched the mask of Spider-Man tight in his hand. He'd make it right by this kid. Even if it meant pouring every second of his time to the kid, he'd make it right.

A weak but wet cough broke his thoughts. Tony reached forward and leaned the kid sideways, per Friday's instructions. Peter coughed up green phlegm, and his body tenses as if that action had cost most of his energy.

“Friday, is that normal?” Tony asked, frightened.

“Peter may have contracted walking pneumonia because of the weather conditions.” Friday admitted, sounding almost guilty.

“Pneumonia?” Tony shouted. “That kills people!”

“What kills people?” A frail voice asked, sounding unsure.

“Don't worry about it, Peter.” Tony said, lifting the water to Peter's lips.

Peter drank slowly, and he started coughing again so Tony pulled the water away. Peter's breath rattled as he calmed down, and ice shot through Tony's veins.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter blinked hard, his eyes finally focusing on Tony. Tony had never been more glad to see the kid's deep brown eyes. “Where am I?”

“Safe, kid.” Tony whispered. “You ended up with hypothermia so I brought you to an apartment that doubles as an infirmary.”

Tony resisted the urge to run his hand through his kid's hair, as his mother used to do when he was sick.

“Hypothermia?” Peter frowned.

“Yeah so you need to get out of your suit.” Tony said. “It’s soaking wet and that’s not helping you. I've got some sweats for you to change into right here.”

“Oh.” Peter frowned and then hit the spider so the suit loosened and then Tony turned around after he handed Peter the sweats.

“I'm decent.” Peter said, then stretched out his arm which couldn’t go through with the IV. So Tony temporarily removed it, helped Peter with his arm, and then put it back in.

“What's the last thing you remember kid?” Tony asked.

“Water.” Peter said, and his eyes filled with panic. “There was so much water and I couldn't breathe and it was so heavy and I couldn't move I was trapped-”

“Whoa, easy kid.” Tony said, putting a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly to ground the kid. “You're all right now. Karen had me get you and bring you to safety. You're okay.”

“May.” Peter gasped.

“Thinks you fell asleep in the lab.” Tony replied. “Happy will bring you home when you're feeling better.”

Peter slumped in bed, that panic exhausting him. “I'm sorry Mister Stark.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, kiddo.” Tony said, running his thumb across Peter's shoulder. “That's what I'm here for. I'm here to make sure you don't end up hurt.”

Peter didn't seem to hear him. “I tried so hard to get out. I was so scared.”

“You got the thieves.” Tony said. “They're okay and in jail.”

“Thieves?” Peter frowned.

Ah. Peter had been talking about what trauma he had gone through that inspired the panic attack. 

“You're okay.” Tony soothed, trying to mimic how Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce had acted for him. “You made it out. You survived.”

“But I let you down.” Peter sounded on the edge of tears.

“You have never let me down, Peter.” Tony snapped, a little harsher than he intended. “I've been scared for you but I've never felt let down.”

“Took my suit.” Peter mumbled. “Wasn't good enough for it.”

“I only did that to protect you.” Tony murmured, giving in to running his hand through Peter's hair. It seemed like the right choice since Peter leaned into the touch. “It had nothing to do with deserve. You've always deserved it, I just needed you to be safe.”

“Really?” Peter asked, his eyes hopeful.

“Really.” Tony promised.

Peter then smiled widely before coughing up more phlegm. “Gross.”

“It's fine.” Tony said, taking a tissue and cleaning up. “My whole life has been super gross. Once you have a motor oil smoothie, you don't care about gross anymore. And then you fly into a goopy, slimy giant thing's mouth to kill it. After that, nothing fazes you.”

Peter chuckled weakly and was quiet for a moment. “What happened, Mister Stark?”

“You chased some idiots into the East.” Tony said, still running his hand through his kid's hair. “You got them out but you weren't doing so great yourself. You had a panic attack.”

Peter blushed and went quiet again, avoiding Tony's eye.

“Peter look at me.” Tony said gently.

Peter gave an embarrassed and slightly scared glance up.

“I have panic attacks.” Tony admitted. “From Afghanistan, from New York, from Sokovia, and even from Malibu. I'm a mess, Peter. I just try to live the best I can with what I got.”

Peter made an aborted move at Tony's chest but stopped himself. Tony then reached down and hugged his kid, who responded instantly. He buried his head in Tony's chest.

“He trapped me.” Peter murmured.

“Who?” Tony asked, trying to be as soft and gentle as he could.

“Toomes.” Peter said and started crying. “I confronted him after I left the dance, and I thought I trapped him at a warehouse. But I was the one who was trapped. He remotely flew his wings into the building supports and it collapsed on me. I couldn't move, I got dunked into the river, and there was dust everywhere. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I screamed for help but there was no one there. I couldn't do anything.”

Tony just let Peter cry for a little while, feeling sick with guilt and regret. In trying to protect the kid, he'd left him defenseless. He was going to put a tracker into his homemade suit, and a SOS button.

“That wasn't your fault, Peter.” Tony said, after the kid had cried himself out. “You did something I never would've thought possible. You stopped a hijacking. A plane hijacking. With only you and your pajama suit. That was more than impressive. When Happy called me, I was so proud of you. I mean, I was absolutely fucking terrified that you'd been hurt but then Friday found you on Coney Island and you were okay. And even though he had done so much to you, you saved Toomes' life. He owes you his life Peter. That's no small feat. Even I don't know if I would've been strong enough to do that.”

Peter pulled back, sniffling a little. “Really? But you're an Avenger. You save the world.”

“Name one time I've gone back to help the person who hurt me.” Tony tried.

“I'm sure you must've on one of your missions.” Peter's face showed his mind whirling at a million miles an hour. “There has to be—”

Peter broke into a wet, hacking coughing fit which left him breathless and slumped against Tony's side.

“Friday, diagnosis.” Tony ordered.

“He seems to have a slight case of walking pneumonia.” Friday said. “With the conditions of the river, his abilities, and his exposure to the elements, it could've been a lot worse. He should be fine within a week.”

“You're sick, kiddo.” Tony said. “Take it easy. Don’t worry about me right now. I'm not the one you need to be thinking about. How did you get out from underneath the rubble?”

Peter coughed. “I found my strength. I heard you telling me that if you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it. And you were right. I couldn’t rely on that high tech gear or Karen or anyone but myself. If I was going to be a superhero, I needed to be my own superhero and get myself out of my own problems.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell me about the car chase?” Tony asked lightly.

“I was gonna put it in my nightly report.” Peter tried but wilted under Tony's gaze.

“You can handle your own problems, I understand that, kiddo.” Tony said. “But I need to know what's happening in your life. I need to step in when you're in over your head.”

Peter nodded slowly, blushing slightly. “I know that I can handle these things on my own. I handled Toomes alone.”

“You never should've handled that alone.” Tony said, biting his lip to keep from losing control. “I should've been there every step of the way. I mean, Christ, you nearly fell off the damn plane. Several times apparently from the webbing that survived the crash. Speaking off your webbing, I've got some in the lab waiting for you to test, when you're feeling better. That way you don't need to make it in chem labs.”

Peter chuckled which turned into another coughing fit.

“Were you sick before the car chase?” Tony asked, finally putting two and two together. And he called himself a genius.

Peter shrugged, exhausted. “I mean I guess I wasn't feeling one hundred percent but I didn't think it was that bad.”

“It's bad, Peter.” Tony said. “You have walking pneumonia. I'm sure that dip you took in the water didn't help whatsoever but you probably had a cold or the flu before this. Pneumonia doesn't just come on its own. It's something that was something else once that got worse.”

“I didn't feel that bad.” Peter tried. “I just felt a little stuffed up.”

“All right, Peter, I believe you.” Tony said. “But as of now, you're grounded.”

“What, no, I'm fine.” Peter protested. “You don't need to--”

“Yes I do, Peter.” Tony said, trying to be firm but gentle. “If you go out sick, you could get killed. You nearly did tonight. What if I hadn't gotten to you in time and you fell off that building?”

“This doesn't stop you.” Peter huffed.

“No, usually Steve would stop me.” Tony said, and pushed back the memories of Steve pulling him out of his lab and into his bed so he could sleep.

Peter went quiet at that. Steve had always been a sensitive subject for Tony since Peter met him. With what had become known as the Avengers' Civil War, Steve was an enemy, someone to fight, and then Steve became an international criminal when he broke the other Avengers' out of the Raft, which Tony hadn't quite disapproved of but he had already started on a legal way to do it. This wasn't including the mess that came with Barnes killing Tony's mother. Once a best friend turned bitter enemy. So Tony understood the kid not knowing what to say about Steve.

“Get some sleep, Peter.” Tony finally said. “We'll talk more when you wake up.”

Peter opened his mouth to say something but then closed it and nodded. Peter settled back into bed and Tony pulled the blankets up to his chin.

“Mister Stark?” Peter murmured, sounding half-asleep.

“Yeah?” Tony replied.

“Please don’t leave.” Peter said, barely awake. “I don’t want to have nightmares.”

Tony's heart jumped to his throat. Damn kid was fifteen. Nightmares from being a superhero should only happen once he turned eighty, not when he was fifteen.

“Of course, son.” Tony said automatically. “I'm not going anywhere.”

“Son.” Peter sighed contentedly, and then slipped back into sleep.

Tony hadn't noticed that he called the kid son. But Peter had certainly enjoyed it. Hell, he originally brought the kid in because he needed a guardian and Tony needed someone who could take on Steve. And here he was, calling the kid son. How had a fifteen year old from Queens end up in such a permanent place in his heart?

Tony noticed he had started running his hand through the kid’s hair again. Just as his mother did when he was small. And Peter looked so small, wrapped up in thick comforters, with one hand under his head, the other with the IV stretched out, his legs tucked in. With Peter looking like this, he could almost forget that Peter was a superhero before he came into his life.

So with Peter asleep, and no one else here who could use it against the kid, Tony leaned down and whispered, “Yeah, son,” and pressed his lips to Peter's hair.

Another contented sigh passed Peter's lips and Tony felt vindicated in his actions. Now that Peter was on his way to being healed completely, Tony grabbed the suit and started working. Peter's suit was going to be perfect, he swore it. The kid meant too damn much to him for anything less.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I don't know whether to continue this so if you like it, let me know. I'll give you what you want.


End file.
